This invention is directed to a durable patient chair, particularly suited for use by weakened, partially disabled, or infirm individuals.
Individuals suffering from various musculoskeletal conditions or neuromuscular disorders have unique needs with respect to a chair. A chair for such an individual must be comfortable for long periods of time, must provide easy ingress and egress, and must provide a stable base of support.
A patient chair which satisfies these needs is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,435, to Leib, which is incorporated herein by this reference. The patient chair disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,435 has front legs, a rearwardly extending, substantially horizontal seat, and brackets attached to the legs and seat for cantilevering the seat from the front legs. Bolts are used to attach the brackets to the seat.
However, with this type of chair, excessive and prolonged rocking of the cantilevered seat by obese users can limit the life of the chair due to excessive stress in the spring frame of the seat at the perforation for the attachment between the spring frame and bracket.
Accordingly, there is a need for a patient-type chair which is comfortable for long periods of time, provides easy ingress and egress, a stable base for support, and has extended durability for the broadest spectrum of users. Further, the chair must be easy to assemble to keep the cost of the chair at a minimum, aesthetically pleasing, and streamlined to the exclusion of any dirt catching clamps or other conventional assembly devices.